One of these things is not like the other

OK, so this isn't beer related. But I have been living in a bit of a hole, apparently, and I just learned that Phillips Chop House closed. WHAT?! DAMMIT. I haven't been that in love with a restaurant in a while, and now I can't drag my husband there for Valentines Day. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I Told You I Was Trouble

I need this for my birthday. It is the Double Trouble Combo, and it costs $30. It doesn't come with any razor blades, drug paraphernalia, or ratty ballet shoes, however, so you'll have to provide your own if you're going as Amy Winehouse this Halloween.

Blood is thicker than beer...wait, what?

My Dad got married this weekend, so I had the privilege of having both of my brothers, one sister-in-law and one long time girlfriend over to my house last night. This required beer, so we ran to the friendly neighborhood liquor store. We picked up a selection of things, but the most popular by far was the six-pack of O'Malley's Irish Cream Ale. I only got one myself. And when it was gone, everyone begrudgingly drank my youngest bro's Warsteiner. His girlfriend liked the Schlafly's Raspberry I had left in the fridge, so overall, we cleaned out my beer stock.

But back to the Irish Cream Ale, brewed by a little local brewery in Weston, MO, that recently reopened. I had been to the underground pub in Weston before, but they didn't have the brewery back up and running when I was there. If you have a chance to go, you should. It is quite the experience, sitting in the giant cellar, listening to live music bouncing off the stone walls. When you order an Irish Cream Ale at a bar in town that serves it on tap, you get the whole nitro tap experience, like with Guinness. This is my best Caffrey's replacement! Much more so than Boddington's, love it as I do.

Moms Day Hiatus

I'm going on my own mini vacation, and vacation to me always means fresh seafood, time spent on the water, and grabbing a new beer or two. It's Mother's Day weekend, and I am going to visit my own little madre. As additional benefits there will be the Long Island Sound, my brother and sister-in-law, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I'll try to grab some interesting beer to talk about here. In the meantime, have a great weekend, and do something nice for your mom, the mother of your children, or yourself if you are a mom.

Drink to Valentines Day

I read this article tonight, and I had to share. I am a beer fan and all, but this cracked me up.

"For years brewers and beer lovers have paired beer and chocolate," says Ray Daniels, spokesperson for the Brewers Association, a national trade association for craft brewers. "During a week when many Americans celebrate with chocolate, we want to introduce them to the sensual and romantic marriage of beer and chocolate pairings."




You can read it all via the link above, but the nut is that porters and stouts do well with chocolate because they have toasted, roasted, almost coffee like flavors. The other types of beers that pair well are hefeweizens, and strong Belgian ales.

**edited because someone ate my chocolate cake pic **

Where Is My Mind?

I'm geeking out to The Pixies and The Flaming Lips. How you doin'?

Seeing my brother for an hour this weekend made me realize how much I miss the punk. I hate that half of my family lives 2,000 + miles away. We didn't even get to have that beer. No beverages, no conversation, no time. I wish I had more frequent flier flights. I'd be up there far more often. Far too often, I am sure. Holidays are making me very sappy. I rocked out with John Denver & the Muppets while making grandma's fudge recipe this weekend. And drinking a lovely thick porter. Hell to the yes, that's me. Shut up.

Random.
Ready?Set.Go!

I think that this is cool.
I ordered this for the husband at the last minute.
Who else wants to go do this?
I am going to be here in one year.
I got these fancy chocolates today, and I'd prefer to look at them than eat them.
Anyone else noticed that holiday sweaters are everywhere?

Four Day Weekend

I love summer holiday weekends. BBQs, things exploding, bug spray and sunscreen. And beer. Frosty beer bottles plucked from the big metal ice bucket that lives on a deck. That sounds like it is a beer tree or something. Hmm, beer tree.

So anyway, I am actually making a list of beers I want to drink this weekend. Beers that go with hamburgers, spicy BBQ, lots of friends, and that are perfect for kicking back in a screened porch, doing the Sunday crossword puzzle with a ceiling fan lazily spinning overhead. (I don't do soduku.)

So without much further ado, here is the 2006 Fourth of July Weekend Beer Girl List:

Sam Adams Light
Spaten Premium Lager
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat (with a lemon wedge, please)
Hefeweizen
Shiner Summer Stock

You're Pretty When I'm Drunk

I signed up to be a member of BeerAdvocate.com this week. Dear lord, how I love this site! It will inspire me for years. And in looking over our past beers, I realize that I needed the help. Some have been great, some have been horrific. I know. But I'm dealing with some demons here. I used to be a beer snob. Light anything was never good enough for me. Too bland, too nothing, too flavorless. And then I decided that I should go on a diet. And now I drink lights because I don't have the will power to only have one of anything. If I did, I would pick one excellent full bodied beer, and be happy. But that's not me. I'm still watching my oh-so-girlish figure, so I can't go all out for the gutsy, heavy, dark beers all of the time. And it's summer, so I automatically want something lighter and colder. But I just can't serve Miller or Bud around here any more. I just can't DO IT. So I'm taking baby steps into more exciting beer lands. This week's beer is what The Husband & I have been drinking all week at home.

According to the Boston Beer Company:
Sam Adams Light is not just a lighter version of Samuel Adams Boston Lager® but rather the culmination of over two years of tireless research and brewing trials to create a flavorful Light beer. And it has proved to be worth the wait. Brewed using only the finest two row malt and German Noble hops it has a smooth, complex roasted malt character that is superbly balanced with the subtle orange fruit notes of the Noble hops. Sam Adams Light® finishes crisp and smooth without any lingering bitterness, leaving you yearning for more.

In Beer Girl language, it's a light beer that tastes more like a real beer. It has flavor. Some light beer drinkers will not like that about this beer. But that's why I love it.

I'm going to try for a patriotic tie-in, what with this being the Fourth of July weekend & all. Here's my half assed attempt, in VH-1's This to That in So Many Steps Style.

San Adams used Ben Affleck as a celebrity spokesperson....Ben Affleck dated Jennifer Lopez....who was in The Wedding Planner with Fred Willard....who was in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle with Jamie Kennedy...who starred in the Boiler Room with Sean Caan....son of James Caan...who was in Dick Tracy with Dustin Hoffman...who played in Rain Man...with Tom Cuise...who starred in Born on the Fourth of July!

See? sam Adams IS Patriotic. :) Happy Holiday Weekend!